REBECCA LIM: “My family went on a trip to Japan two years ago and we were very excited as it was our first family trip together after 10 years. The etiquette in Japan is to keep your volume down while on a train and I knew this beforehand as I’d been to Japan before. But we still went ahead and made so much noise on the train ’cos we were too excited. We were in our own world (laughs). It wasn’t until my sister pointed it out and asked us to pipe down that we stopped. Thankfully, we were getting off at the next stop as there were people staring at us!”

Take the bus without a ticket

TAY PING HUI: “In Italy, you need to buy a pass to take the bus, but I boarded the bus without buying the ticket. No one really checks. I didn’t get caught but if I did, I would’ve been fined. It would have been quite embarrassing! Sometimes, if there are no grocery stores near where I am, I’d dapao fruits from the hotel breakfast buffet so that I can eat them later.”

Steal hotel stationery

JAYLEY WOO: “I’m a goody-two-shoes to begin with, so I don’t think I’ve done anything bad overseas. Does stealing pencils from hotels count? Sometimes, I have to write something down but I don’t have a pen with me. So, I’ve taken a few pencils along the way.”

Get chased by police on the highway

JUSTIN ANG: “I got chased by the police in Las Vegas. I was driving a rental car and apparently, I didn’t check my blind spot and cut into the lane of a police car and almost hit it. And the police turned on the siren. I didn’t know that in the U.S., when the police are behind you and they turn on the siren, it means you have to stop immediately. We were on the expressway, and I’m trained as a Singaporean to move out of the way when I hear a siren. So, instead of stopping, I sped up and changed lanes just to get out of the police car’s lane, thinking he wanted to move ahead. So, I accidentally caused a police chase. Eventually, I stopped ’cos they shouted, ‘Will the driver please stop?’ through a loud hailer. And when the police approached my car, it was like they were about to handcuff me. At the end of it, I got a very long summon for two offences — one, for not checking my blind spot and almost hitting a police car, and two, causing a police chase on the expressway. I had to appear in traffic court in Nevada, and was fined US$600 (S$800).”

Cut queues at an amusement park

JAMES SEAH: “A year ago, we had a bachelor party for a friend so five of us stayed in one hotel room. My friend and I woke up early in the morning and went to the restaurant for the complimentary breakfast. We were halfway through our breakfast when the waiter asked us for our names. Apparently, my friend had booked the room under a guy and a girl’s name, but we were two guys. We got a little stumped, so we lied and said we are their relatives (laughs). The waiter said okay, and we managed to have our free breakfast! In the past, I’ve also cut the line when queuing up for rides at Universal Studios in Japan. When I got stopped, I acted blur and just pretended I couldn’t understand their language. I had to do this out of desperation as the line was too long!”

Hurl expletives at cab drivers

SONIA CHEW: “Once, I was in Hongkong and my friend was really sick, so we really wanted to get her back to the hotel. We were on the road trying to flag a cab when some locals — who figured out we were foreigners ’cos we can’t speak Cantonese — stole our cab. So I screamed and shouted at them! Even as the cab went by, I was shouting bad words at them — things that you can’t print (laughs)!”

Chope seats and steal toiletries

CHUA ENLAI: “When I’m travelling, ‘chope’ (to reserve a place) and ‘kope’ (to take someone else’s things) are my keywords. When I fly, I don’t like sitting next to other people. It’s too close for comfort. So, sometimes, if there are spare seats, I’ll chiong (rush) to them. I’ll purposely sit in the middle and throw my things everywhere — passport, phone, blanket, jacket, scarf, whatever — to ‘chope’ the seats. Technically, I’m not doing anything wrong — I’m just following the philosophy of ‘first-come-first-served’. When I go to a hotel with very nice toiletries, every time they replenish them, I’d ‘kope’ them. Also, sometimes, if housekeeping does not clear my bathrobe but they hang up new ones… I mean, what do I do with all these extra bathrobes? They are all piling up. I’ve got to put some away… in my luggage (laughs).”